Quick friday morning question for the brick community - how difficult a job is it to replace the valve stem seals. I bought a new '90 245 DL (okay, new to me) and it gives off a quick puff of blue smoke on startup - which leaves me to believe the seals need to be replaced. I'm going to be getting the car ready to drive to Alaska over the next few months - and this is one of the things on the list which I haven't done before. Easy, hard, let someone else do it?

Thanks,
Zach
'92 244 142k
'90 245 223k
'70 Spitfire MkIII ??k

Zach

About a week ago, I asked about the Valve Stem Seal Job for my 1981 Volvo 244DL, with a low Kilometers B21A engine, that only gives a blast of smoke on reacceleration to 100km/h (62mph), after decelerating from 100km/h (62mph) to 90km/h, just before entering a tunnel.

I was offered this website:

http://valvespringcompressor.weblogs.us/

Rather than compressed air, I will stuff the Cylinder with 3/8" cotton rope and using a 22mm Ratchet, rotate the Crankshaft to as near TDC as possible with the rope being compressed to holed the Valves in place. I will improve on the Tool in the website, however.

I have not done the job, yet, but will, when I have made the tool. Fussing around, I plan on a Saturday, after dinner to just before dinner.

By the way, I have dreamt of flying the Alaska Highway. I have been to Alaska, many times. What a beautiful place! The people are different, up there. Rough and Ready. Got to be.

Prepare for your trip, well. Tools, spare parts, Tire Pump, Inner Tube, Electrician's Tape, 100 Mile Hour tape, maybe a cigar lighter Soldering Iron and Solder, Distilled Water, Drinking Water, Space Blanket, Camping Gear, a Rifle (Canadian Border Guards will not allow a Pistol, do check first). The Canadian Rockies are beautiful. Divert from Calgary over to Banff and Jasper National Parks. That is worth it! Driving up through Montana is the way to go. Very scenic, in parts.

Have a great trip.

Hey, its great to hear that my website lives on and that my tool design may help someone. I have now used that compressor to remove and replace all the valves on a head. If you have improvements to the tool, I'd be interested in hearing them. Its basic, yes, but it works quite perfectly, I can assure you. Also, I would suggest not using cotton rope, but a nylon rope to fill the cylinders. the cotton will leave residue in the cylinder chamber, which is bad. Not generally horrible as it will probably burn off, but you generally don't want bonus crap hanging out in your cylinder chambers (thus air filters). Anyways, good luck to you and to Zach in future endeavors. it really is quite easy to do all this. Oh yes, on final thing--TDC is really not helpful for this project, because you have to raise the piston up to compress the rope and hold the valve up on whichever cylinder you are working on. Be sure you can find TDC to reset the timing belt, but you won't be keeping it there. You definitely cannot push enough rope in there to really hold the valve up without compressing the piston a bit. good luck,

Nate Gundy
--
'86 240DL sedan, 260K miles, M46, K cam, 25/23mm sways, 260 front and wagon rear springs; http://valvespringcompressor.weblogs.us/

I'll keep an eye on oil level after the next change - and if I get really bored and have nothing but time on my hands (ha), I'll give the fix a shot.

Thanks,
Zach

I have to agree with previous poster that a puff of blue smoke on start up is, IMHO, not worth dealing with. Mine has been doin it for years. Sometimes worse than others. I'll put in a quart between changes so I'm not worried. Going to be a great drive!!
--
Simon 80 240 307k 18 years. 'White Lightning'

Near impossible without the correct tools.
With the correct tools I'd call it a 5-6 on a scale of 1-10 and time consuming.

You will need one of two tools to get it done, an on the car spring compressor or and off the car compressor which neccesitates pulling the head.

You can usually rent the old school off the car model and if it has a zillion miles on it you might want to just bite the bullet and pull the head and do it right. Clean it all up, get all of the crap and crud off of the piston faces, new plugs, valve adjust, fresh intake,exhaust, and head gaskets, new coolant. That baby would be ready for a trip to Alaska then. Make sure that the engine harness is up to being disturbed enough to do the head gasket though.

Otherwise you will have to bite the bullet and pay someone to do it. Doing valve seals is not something you do that often, even in a full blown shop. Truthfully I don't even have an on the car model in my shop.

Mark

There are only four of them on the intake valves. If a bit of blue smoke is all you have, and the engine doesn't burn oil between changes, at least not a lot, then why bother? Check the crankcase breather though.

I;ve done this on other cars, and it was fairly easy.

You'll need a fitting that will screw into the spark plug hole and attach an air hose.

The aim is to use air pressure to keep the valves closed while you are working on the seals.

Remove parts until the tops of the valves are clear, then go about remmoving and replacing the seals.

You probably have worn valve guides, too, so your new seals may only last a few thousand miles. But then again, they may last forever, who knows?

If your valve guides are worn, it's a machine shop job to rework the vlalve stems and guides. To save some money, you can remove the head(s) and carry them in.